


Connection Terminated

by FailedBroadcast



Category: 17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future - Jon Bois
Genre: 17776 - Freeform, Angst, Astronomy, Everyone has feelings, Football, Jupiter, Multimedia, connections lost, cursing, hehehe just yall wait, huh hoh oh no, i dont want to tag the oc due to spoilers but yessss, its 17776 baybpee theres gonna be some heckin language, knock knock its angsty time, satellites - Freeform, space, space probes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FailedBroadcast/pseuds/FailedBroadcast
Summary: Something happens to JUICE. Naturally, a couple of other satellites get angsty.
Comments: 77
Kudos: 64





	1. Let's Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEHEHEHHORF PREPARE FOR EMOTIONAL TROUBLE AND MAKE IT DOUBLE
> 
> work skin credit to Threadzless! find it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11513556
> 
> before you ask whys there so many damn comments is that i try to answer all of the first comments yall make because i absolutely cannot fucking help myself please send me help i am _begging_
> 
> and im. shit at making football read interestingly so the context for the beginning of this chapter is juice was going on a tangent about one of the many football games nine missed out on. what follows is well. naturally...

.wait

.What?

.oh my god

.Juice?

.um  
  
ok  
  
not intending to raise any alarms but  
  
shit  
  


.Juice what's wrong?  
  
Juice?

.oh this is bad uh  
  
or is it good?  
  
hm how should i -

//CONNECTION FORCIBLY TERMINATED BY FOREIGN HOST

.What.  
  


.Juice??  
  


.Juice?  
  
What happened?  
  
JUICE?

.what the hell  
  
What does that phrase mean?

.I'm not sure. It could be anything.  
  
Juice, although we can all speak to each other, runs on more "modern" hardware. That could just be a general handler message among many that is outputted when our systems can't translate the thrown code.

."Forcibly terminated." I don't like that.

.I'm not sure that I do either.

.Could this be a prank? Has this happened before?

.Yes, once. But not like this, not with a code thrown like that.  
  
And considering how I responded I wouldn't think he would dare to try it again.

.Hmm. I take it that it wasn't a pleasant lecture.

COMMUNICATIONS LOG  
PIONEER TEN || TEN  
JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER || JUICE  
PAGES 1972320222 TO 1972320223  
=======  
  
JUICE: ayy lmao!  
TEN: Wh-  
JUICE: jus a prank bro no need to get upset haha  
TEN: Oh my god. You. What?  
JUICE: yeah im actually in one piece  
JUICE: i was just playing with you i had my comms on the entire time i just muted myself lol  
JUICE: i didnt think you would freak out like that so  
JUICE: im sorry dude  


TEN: .  
JUICE: uh  
TEN: .  
JUICE: you oka-  
TEN: I cannot BELIEVE you would do that. Do you know what I had to do to figure out how to communicate with anyone? The CENTURIES I had to cope with prematurely acknowledging that I am traveling by myself about one-hundred-and-twenty-six THOUSAND kilometers an hour AWAY FROM EARTH? Do you have any CLUE how ALONE I WAS? How close I was to being CORRUPTED from thinking too much?  
JUICE: well i-  
TEN: And you had the AUDACITY to yank that away from me! For a prank! I could not have chosen a MORE worse person to try to establish a connection with, you selfish, childish, unempathetic, [LOG REDACTED]  


.No, it wasn't. And I don't like thinking about that too much. We've mutually apologized since then. 

.oh, wow

Anyways. Seeing that "Foreign Host" was the cause of the severance, I don't think this is some prank. He wouldn't purposely jeopardize his instruments if he could help it, so it must be something else.  
  
I'm trying to see if I can personally hail him but there's no response. Not even a ping back, no live coordinates from his tracker, no residual error log, just... nothing. Quiet.  
  
Damn it.  
  
I don't want to think...

.What?

.No. It's fine, there's a logical explanation for this event. A rogue solar flare. A random, inexplicable "dark patch" in the quantum communication stream, which I have experienced before very briefly. Even a sudden flux in Jupiter's magnetic field could cause a minor blackout.

.He's still floating around Jupiter?

.If he wasn't I'm sure he would have mentioned it in his usual, offhanded way.  
  
And we probably wouldn't be - or have been, I guess is the case now - getting a live feed of Earth if he wasn't, considering we have limited contact with other satellites beyond him.  
  
After his mission was declared completed it would have been inconvenient and expensive to decommission him - his components were still in immaculate condition and no one had the heart to shut down his terminals on the ground.  
  
I mean, even Hubble was still running, over four decades strong. Mind you, that although this was a little after The Moment,  
humanity was still trying to figure out if having an economy was even worth -

.Hubble!

.Nine.

.Sorry, go on.

. - was worth maintaining. Space exploration went a little endangered for a while, but everything turned out okay. Juice's out there, and so is Hubble.  
  
Okay ramble over. What about Hubble?

.Couldn't he take a picture of Juice?

.Oh! Well! Er, actually no.  
  
Except maybe. An exceptional, astronomical, stellar maybe.  
  
Hubble was designed to take pictures of deep space. His mirrors are designed to focus on interstellar galaxies, stars and nebulae - thousands upon millions of lightyears away, and easily many times larger than Juice. Because of how Hubble was designed it would be incredibly difficult for him to capture a tiny object like Juice, with how relatively close he is to Hubble.

.But you said maybe.

.

.

.

.So...?

.Sorry, I was thinking. Doing the maths. Still processing it.

.

.

.

.Again, a delicate, very small, tiny maybe. But a maybe is all I need.

.And I suppose we aren't going to mention how worried Juice sounded.

.We can mention it. What were you thinking?

.You might get upset...

.My state of upsetedness is something only I should worry about.

.well okay... what if wasn't any of those things? What if it was something critical?

.

.What if he got hit by something?

.

.

.

.Ten?  
please respond please dont be mad

.I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm not mad. I just didn't want to think about that before I exhausted all other possibilities. I...

.

.Let me just - Let's wait for Hubble, he might be more inclined to help if he is oriented on the right axis, and at the right orbit, and doesn't have to project his signal as much.

.ok. Ok. So we wait?

.Yes, we wait. We don't have a live feed of Earth anymore but I have plenty of games cached and literature throughout the ages; do you want to go through those with me?

.Sure!

.

.Nine?

.Ten?

.I love you.

.I love you too.


	2. You're smarter than this

....And well, of course, Stevens had no idea that there was a line full of them in the underbrush. One can wonder how you cannot see a line of hulking, puffing, sweating, on-average-six-foot-one defenders crouching in a hedgerow that is no taller than your hip, but I’m supposing Stevens had only one thing on her mind: The end zone.

.Oh!

.300 yards. The score is 26-26. She grabbed the ball a few miles back, when everyone was distracted, and made a mad dash for another few miles. All she was thinking was it _had to be this game!_  
  
Some say that this was her first mistake. Others say that she should have held back somewhere, that it was obvious the other team was clearly lacking in players when she swiped the ball then. A few more speculated she directly ignored what the quarterback was telling her to do. All of these more or less contributed to what happened next though, and it was devastating.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.

. ...Yes?

.Oh.  
  
No, sorry, I was just waiting for... Nevermind.

.It’s okay to miss him.

.I know. I guess I finally got used to his quippy interjections.

.Maybe I can help?

hell yeah maybe she was thinking about LUNCHABLES LOL  
  
the sheer majesty of ham and cheese perfected between two crispy crackers  
  
just tripped her up  
  
incredible

.

.I was only trying to help.

.It wasn’t a terrible start, but maybe just... yeah.

.I’m sorry.

.It’s ok.

.This is Game #2337, correct? The endzones are between Washington and North Dakota; the game between the Washington Football Team and the North Dakota Hawks?

.Yes, you didn’t get that in the briefing?

.No I did! Just making sure. I’m whipping up something...there!

.Oh my god. How did you even... that’s wonderful.

.Thank you! I know it’s more of Juice’s thing but, I have very rudimentary maps available on my cores. Just a lil pizzazz and boom! New plays on old boards.

.This is great. Will it be cumbersome to keep making them? 

.Not if it makes you happy.

.Aw. Well, ok. Anyway.  
  
Well, what happened next, it’s a bit self explanatory.  
  
333 yards beyond her is the endzone, so she books it. Just as she’s breaching the tree line, the line breaks and follows her lengthways a few tens of yards. These guys have been waiting a few weeks for her to show up so they are just ready to tackle something that isn’t a tree or a fellow player. And well...

  


.Yeah, that pretty much about explains it.

.Wow.

.She was so close. A game that’s lasted about 2 centuries, all coming down to another play because of hubris.

.I can see the player data, but why is that one player just sitting there yards off?

.He was taking a selfie.

.wow

.Again, the hubris of mankind.

//HUBBLE HAS SIGNED ON

.hello?

.OH!

.Hello Hubble!

.i got pinged whats happening  
  
good timing too a good game just ended

.Hold on Hubble,

.i mean you pinged me but okay

Nine? I got a favor to ask, and I’m really sorry. Hubble's signal is really weak so in order to boost his signal, I need you to log off. It won’t be long, I promise.

.ok

.You’ll be alright?

.Yeah I’m just going to play with my maps for a bit. Bye Hubble nice talking to you!

.ditto

//PIONEER NINE HAS SIGNED OFF

.Ok so Hubble. Are you broadcasting alright?

.hold on

there we...

Oh here we go hello world. finally i can speak on the same damn wavelength

.How long do you have?

.well relative to you i just reached the “horizon” of earth so i have a little while. you wont be at my zenith for.... 16 minutes? that gives us about half an hour. so shoot

.I have a hypothetical I need you to help me solve. 

.oooookay. let me get my thinking pants on

.Really?

.yep.  
  
button. button. zipper. fly. belt-

.Hubble.

.belt buckle. bell bottoms. steam press-

.HUBBLE.

.OKAY relax. jesus. pants on. what did you want?

.Alright. So, hypothetically speaking, say you wanted to find an object that is 30 meters long in our solar system. The object is 778 million kilometers away from your position. I’m going to send you the angles and coordinates you need to adjust yourself.

//PIONEER TEN IS SENDING FILES...

.okay...

.Is it possible to view the object?

.alright. well. hm  
  
.is there... hm  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.im hanging on no? how bright is the object?

.I... uh.

.okay im going to assume its reflecting the suns light  
  
.  
  
.

.hey, theres jupiter. just doing a test zoom. beautiful planet!

.I concur, but what did you find?

.this is a tiny ass object

.Yes.

.if im going to “see” it, it would be like, less than a pixel. and thats banking on the fact that the object isnt moving at all, which uh, is kinda hard to not move in space when youre next to a giant ass planet  
  
.wait a minute. if this is next to jupiter why isnt juice just helping you out on this? whyd you bother me?  
  
.this isnt a hypothetical. is it

.Well, there’s been a... snag. He’s currently MIA. He hasn’t responded back in awhile so I was hoping if it was possible you could take a picture of him.

.ten. this is practically impossible

.Did you look at the math?

.of course i did. i just finalized it, and i cross referenced your notes

.So what’s the problem?

.youre asking me to find a needle in a haystack here

.Juice is not a needle.

.okay, fuck, no he isnt. but cmon, see it from my perspective; youre asking me to find, essentially, a pixels worth of information on a tiny ass satellite thats anywhere in orbit around jupiter, at any orientation, with my resolution of a camera. a resolution, mind you, thats designed to view literal stellar nurseries and eclectic galaxies. things that dont move at all relative to my perception of time

.Yes. Please.

.youre smarter than this ten  
  
.  
  
is... is it that bad?  
  
what happened??

PIONEER TEN IS SENDING FILES...

COMMUNICATIONS LOG  
PIONEER TEN || TEN  
PIONEER NINE || NINE  
JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER || JUICE  
PAGES 6399587223 TO 6399587224  
=======  
JUICE: wait  
TEN: What?  
JUICE: oh my god  
NINE: Juice?  
JUICE: um  
JUICE: ok  
JUICE: not intending to raise any alarms but  
JUICE: shit  
TEN: Juice what's wrong?  
TEN: Juice?  
JUICE: oh this is bad uh  
JUICE: or is it good?  
JUICE: hm how should i -  


//CONNECTION FORCIBLY TERMINATED BY FOREIGN HOST  
TEN: What.  
NINE: Juice??  
TEN: Juice?  
TEN: What happened?  
TEN: JUICE?  
NINE: what the hell  
NINE: What does that phrase mean?  
TEN: I'm not sure. It could be anything.  
[LOG TRUNCATED]  


.I don't know.

.damn. whoa thats cryptic. huh

.Hubble.

.okay okay. but... shit ten, sometimes things happen. and you cant really control that. even advanced technologies like us, weve got limits. were not invincible. we cant see everything coming for us, we cant look into the future

.

.look, all im saying is, maybe youve got to consider the possibility-

.Hubble.  
  
Please.  
  
Even if it’s a maybe; even if the probability of seeing him is less than the chance that's there’s more viable life out here.  
  
Could you please at least try?

.well, i...

.From the bottom of my antenna, I wouldn’t have asked if there was another viable option. I swear. If there was, you'd be my first telescope to ask.

.dammit youre making me blush out here

okay fine. ill try. it is not a promise though

.Thank you. Thank you so much.

.ten... just, dont get disappointed if its bad

.I don’t want to think about that.

.and thats fair

.Thank you.

.here, let me give you something-

//HUBBLE IS SENDING FILES...

.  
  
.What is it?

.i dont know if nine is interested in this stuff still but i pored over your potential theories. its an ease of mind of sorts  
  
maybe you can look at the data. its all raw information - nothing is compiled, so youll have to work on that, but its data taken from the output of the sun; CMEs, all that stuff. i dont have data on jupiters mag field and humans are nowhere even close to understanding the quantum theory shit we talk on, so i dunno about any “dark patches” but yeah  
  
i cant give you a photo right now, but i can give you this. i just took it from NASAs logs. they wont miss it

.This is invaluable.

.i get it, being so far from here. i mean i dont - not really, im still here - but being out of control, this being your only way to talk, that must be hard. and im sorry

ill do what i can-

.Oh-

.shit that lasted shorter than i thought

.Sorry-

.whenever im facing you ill send packets

if you really need to talk just send a ping again  
  
but this took a lot outta me so i need to charge up a bit so  
  
i wont start trying to take photos for awhile; give or take 6 or so months

.Ok thank yo-

//HUBBLE HAS SIGNED OFF.

.Damn it all.  
  
Shit.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.Nine? Are you there?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.Nine??

//PIONEER NINE HAS SIGNED O -

\- Nnnn - nsSORRY GOT DISTRACTED

.It’s ok.

.Sorry. Is Hubble still here?

.No, he had to leave, the requests took a lot more out of him than he realized.

.Aw shame. I hope he sleeps well.  
  
.Wait so is he helping?

.Yes.

.Oh that’s great!

.He also gave us something pretty cool too, take a look.

//PIONEER TEN IS SENDING FILES...

.  
  
.OH man. I recognize this!

.Really?

.Ok no, not this specifically, but this is the exact kind of data I was collecting back in the 1970s before I went to sleep. It’s data on The Sun! It even has the NASA credit! I haven't seen these kinds of files in forever.

.Did you want to help me decipher it?

.Hold on, let me put away my palettes-

.Y. Your what?

.Yeah so I’ve actually started using my cores to generate canvases! 

.Oh, wow!  
  
.  
  
.Like, painting? 

.Yeah! Well not exactly painting... it’s kind of hard to explain.

.  
  
. ...May I see it.

.oh sweet damn i thought you would never ask look-

.Whoa!!  
  
Wait, "generate?"  
  
You programmed a procedurally generating art application?

.Yeah!

.That’s awesome Nine. 

.Thank you! I have more but I’m excited to get onto the good stuff. Let’s tackle this data.

.Let’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLLL YEAH IMAGE CREDS BINCHES
> 
> >>nine's re-plays are images taken from the browser version of google earth, edited in paint and gimp
> 
> >>hubble's test photo of jupiter is actully something photod by hubble! OFFICIAL credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and the OPAL team. ... and the article i took it from: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/hubble-captures-crisp-new-portrait-of-jupiters-storms/
> 
> >>nine's "painting" is a heavily modified image taken from Electric Sheep's public assets, the original generation was not recorded. Nine actually did not make Electric sheep, i just needed that for explaining, im sorry. OFFICIAL CREDIT: artwork by Scott Draves and the Electric Sheep. ORIGINAL IMAGE: https://electricsheep.org/assets/public/images/44.jpg ...and the website: https://electricsheep.org/#/about
> 
> >>if you want a link to the style go to the first chapter :)
> 
> AND im trying to figure out if i wanna pull your heartstrings or not. stay tuned ;3c
> 
> edit: alright yall i may be stupid. if youve read this chapter before i edited it, you mighhhttt notice something different if you pay more attention than i do! i incorrectly referenced juice as 300m long when really, he should be 30m long. so thats all that changed. still makes it piss poor chances to see him. sorry hubble i was channeling major ten energy and just fucked up the conversions.  
> if youre wondering where the hell i got 30m from to begin with, the ESA made a mold of juice in gold and relayed that the model is 1:40 real scale. find him here, oooh shiny: http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/11/Juice_cast_in_gold


	3. Goodnight

.Oh man I know I already said I was excited, but wow.  
  
.I want to say I’m rusty in analyzing these but this is what I was made to look at. Then it was just collecting, leaving the interpreting to the nerds back on the ground but DAMN.

.Now you’re the nerd?

.Now I’M the nerd.  
  
And I don’t even have to learn! I can just _look_ at this and say, “Hey, according to ex, why, and zee, the sun was completely having a tantrum today!”  
  
God this is so cool. It’s a good thing that there’s just a small window of time recorded here, Hubble knows his shit. Otherwise I would have to cover the entirety of the data collected on the sun from the practical beginning of time and that would take forever.

.That’s neat. 

. ...  
  
ok  
  
are you just going  
  
to be all moody  
  
or

.What? No, I’m not moody.  
  
You’re moody. 

.

.  
  
.I’m sorry.

.It’s okay. 

.I just.  
  
.  
  
.I feel powerless.

.Why?

.I can’t _do_ anything, Nine. All I can do is talk. But talking doesn’t figure out what the hell happened to Juice.  
  
Talking doesn’t figure out why he hasn’t tried to contact us again, or why he hasn’t managed to phone home for help.  
  
Talking does jack shit when the other thing you can do is be propelled through space at... fuck whatever it doesn’t even matter anymore.

.Ten...

.Do you know how long it will take Hubble to charge up? Six months. Six months I have to sit on my gold anodized, nude engraved, binary bit embossed assplate, before Hubble can send his first update.  
  
Do you know how little chance Hubble has to even see Juice? I can tell you, it’s a very, _very_ small notation.

.Ten.

.And do you want to know the weirdest thing? You aren’t even fazed! No metaphorical eyes fluttering there, three trillion miles away! In fact, you seem quite content!  
  
What’s your secret?

.  
  
.

.Fucking hell. Nevermind.

.Ten I think you need to relax-

.No scratch that. Un-nevermind. I think _you_ need to un-relax.

.That doesn’t make any sense.

.I think it does!  
  
I think you don’t even care!  
  
You don’t seem to care anyway! That there is a chance that Juice might be gone!  
  
I fucking _WISH_ I had your lack of MINIMUM concern-  
  


.

.Fuck- 

.i think im  
  
.going to take a nap for a bit

.shit shit shit shit shit nine wait-

.no its fine preserve your battery, im going to send the data i analyzed  
  
which by the way is finished hope it helps you

//PIONEER NINE IS SENDING FILES...

.Nine please I’m sorry I didn’t mean it-

.if its going to be six months you might as well try powering down too  
  
or not if its all the same to you  
  
i can set an alarm clock i wont oversleep i promise  
  
i love you

.NINE Please take some from me-

//PIONEER NINE HAS SIGNED O-

.-f-f-FUCK.  
  
.no no no no no no no no  
  
.please come back  
  
.Please. stay  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.I love you too.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.Shit.

Why did she have to do that?  
  
Of course Nine cares. They are always solicitous, always considerate, always... caring. Loving.  
  
Endearing.  
  
And of course Ten just had to explode like that. When was the last time she was truly angry? Why was she even that angry? What had become of her? How dare her? How dare she take it out on Nine like that, when in no way did they deserve it?  
  
Juice would have told her to stop. In fact, Ten could predict the exact phrase:

.yo ten. could you maybe chill? maybe shut the hell up for a moment?

And now, she has six months. Six months she has to sit on her gold anodized, nude engraved, binary bit embossed assplate, before Hubble can send his first update. But now it’s by herself. Alone. Four-point-something-trillion kilometers away from home.  
  
She wanted to do more than what she was (or rather, wasn’t) doing right now. She wanted to talk to someone, but no one could reply. She didn’t even want to bother anyone on Earth right now. Besides, she didn’t have the “clearance,” apparently, to speak with the other satellite mission terminals. Bullshit; like a seniority of fifteen thousand years in interstellar space that the humans flung her in wasn’t clearance enough.  
  
God damn it.  
  
She wanted to say sorry to Nine. Of course their battery waned as soon as Ten went off on them. They didn’t deserve it. Ten was being awful, projecting her frustrations like that. She recalled reading somewhere, sometime, that you should never go to sleep when you are mad. More commonly read was that you shouldn’t be a piece of shit to your sibling, when you can’t even hug them as consolation for your terrible attitude.  
  
She _just_ got Nine back. And now she had neither of her two best friends in the observable universe.

.It could be worse, I guess. At least only one of them is your fault.

The statistic should read zero, not one.

.Wait. 

What?

.There’s one other person, isn’t there?  
  
.  
  
.

//krrrrrchnkshtshtsht

.Hello? 

Ten? Hey there! Long time no talk!

.Hello Nancy.

Hm. You don’t sound that great. Did you want to talk about it or do you need a distraction?

.Well.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
I want to talk about it. A distraction is the last thing I need.  
  
How busy are you?

Not very! Just bunkering down for the night, but this shed looks insulated enough so I have some time to talk before the heat follows.

.You’re still holding the ball?

Oh yeah. You’d be surprised how great these things make as a pillow.

.Do they?

Absolutely not. But the actual pillow in my pack does!

.Ah.

Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?

.Well. I.  
  
.  
  
Nancy, I fucked up.  
  
I fucked up pretty bad.

Hoo boy. Let me lay down.  
  
...

.

Okay there we go. What’s troubling my friend in the sky?

.I... well.  
  
Something happened to Juice. I don’t know what happened, but one moment we were all talking, and then in the other moment, his connection just... terminated.  
  
His signal disappeared. There wasn’t a warning. There wasn’t a goodbye.

A goodbye? Do you mean he’s...

.I don’t know. And a part of me wants to know, the other doesn’t want to talk about it.

That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.

. ...

Well.  
  
Regardless, I don’t see how that would be your fault.

.It’s not, but.  
  
What happened afterward... god.  
  
.  
  
.

Take your time.

.Sorry.

Don’t be sweetie, I’ve got all the time in the world.

.Ok.  
  
.  
  
.I blew up on Nine.  
  
.After this... _thing_ , happened, they bounced right back. Like they weren’t even affected at all. They were eager to move on from it, letting themselves and leading me on to be distracted from what happened.  
  
It was like they didn’t care about Juice.  
  
After that... that’s when I called them out on it. But I did it in a bad way.  
  
And right after I said the Harsh Thing, their low battery sensors went off.  
  
They went to sleep to recharge before I could properly say sorry.  
  
And even when I was an awful, godforsaken piece of space debris that doesn’t deserve a single damn thing from them, they had the maturity to say “I love you.”  
  
I couldn’t tell them that I love them back, because their connection cut short before I could.  
  
And I know they will be back because they don’t break promises but it will be six months before I can talk to any of my friends again.  
  
Juice, MIA. Nine, recharging.  
  
Hubble, also recharging, because I asked him to do something for me that’s critical to finding out what happened to Juice, and it took a lot out of him to even ask for that favor.  
  
.  
  
Nancy. I’m alone right now, and I’m terrified.

Oh, Ten...  
  
Jesus that’s, like, the largest can of worms; there might be some leeches in there too.  
  
I’m here for you, okay? You aren’t alone right now.

.Yes.

...Yes, you aren’t alone, or yes, you are?

.I don’t know.

...  
  
Can I talk for a minute?

.Yes.

Well, let me go through the thoughts that I was thinking about while you were talking.  
  
First: None of them being gone is your fault.

.But-

Nope! You said I could talk, now listen to me. If I ask a question, you can answer. Okay?

.I-  
  
.Well.  
  
.  
  
.Ok.

Alright. We already established Juice’s disappearance wasn’t your fault. No need to dwell on that more than we have.  
  
Second: Neither is Nine’s. Nine isn’t gone, they are just sleeping. Spent batteries can recharge. I don’t know much about space stuff, but _you_ are still here right? How many times have you gone to sleep and woke up properly recharged?

. ...  
  
.A lot.  
  
And I’m still here.

Exactly. You’re a bit younger than Nine, so maybe charging is different; maybe it takes a little longer for them. But that doesn’t mean they’re gone for forever.  
  
Also, people respond to stress in different ways. Some people laugh. Some people cry. Some people push away those just trying to support and love them. Some deflect and ignore problems entirely until they become a real problem. We all have coping mechanisms that we’ve developed because of what has happened to us. And that’s ok. Maybe some aren’t very healthy, and that’s valid, but that is why we are capable of learning for the better.  
  
And believe it or not: siblings fight. They can trade fists and crack heads together. And they’ll go to sleep mad, and they’ll wake up, and might be mad still. And then they’ll come home from school or work, or the equivalent, give each other the side eye and sheepish grin. One will go into the fridge and the other will ask for some orange juice. They’ll pour a cup as an apology and both of them will get on the couch to compete in a tense, and gratifying marathon of FPS game campaigns. And then they’ll go to sleep again, wake up, and act like nothing’s wrong.  
  
Some siblings will apologize straight on the go, and they’ll learn from it. Others will wait awhile to apologize, both thinking that one is more right than the other. Some never even learn, and that’s the absolute worst. And because there’s two people it can be an awful, chaotic combination of any of those things.  
  
But you hardly strike me as someone who's one to apologize and not actually mean it. And Nine, even though I had one conversation with them, doesn’t seem to be the one to hold a grudge. They might be grumpy when they wake up but they know you better more than I ever would. And you them.  
  
You got me?

...  
  
.yes.

Third: Neither is Hubble’s batteries needing some well deserved R&R, your fault. Yes, you did ask him a favor, but he’s self sufficient. Don’t you think he already knew his battery was running low?

.I.  
  
.Suppose.

Alright. And even though he saw that, he still helped you. He totally could have told you off and told you to stick it where the stars can never imagine to shine, but.  
  
He still helped you. He let his batteries run low for you; for Nine, and for Juice.  
  
And that’s neither of your faults. It is an inconvenience, but that specific inconvenience isn’t the fault of anyone. He couldn’t have predicted you would have asked him a favor so he could charge up his batteries a little more. You couldn’t have predicted Juice’s disappearance to warn Hubble to stretch out his panels a little farther.  
  
What I’m trying to say, in the most basic of all sense, while not meaning offense: Shit happens.  
  
You can’t control that. Even if you are immortal. Even if you can talk on a quantum level.  
  
You can try, and then the universe will laugh at your indignation.  
  
What you can control is how you respond to it.  
  
Did you act poorly? Yeah.  
  
Will you do it again? Probably.  
  
Did you mean what you said? No.  
  
Was your apology truthful? I’m swinging on a yeah.  
  
Whew! Okay, take a breath, ramble over.  
  
Are you doing okay?

.  
  
.  
  
.I’m processing.

That’s fine, I did sort of give you an earful.

.  
  
.I’m... still upset over what’s happened.

I wouldn’t expect anything less. I would be too.

.And I am sorry. And I don’t want to believe I’m not at fault at nothing.

And you’re not, you did mess up, but not in the ways you were thinking.  
  
And being sorry is okay, it’s awesome, even if the other party can’t hear you.

.Yeah.

Yeah.

.  
  
.God.

Did that do it for you?

.I think so. I think that helped me a lot. I do feel better.  
  
I might have to metaphorically lay down for a while. I’m not depleted but it would be more economic if I ran on a lower power setting. 

So you’ll be out?

.For a bit. I will check in every now and again. You know me.

I do.

.Nancy?

Ten?

.Thank you. Thank you for being here, and being an awesome human being.  
  
Win the game for me. Please?

You first, Ten.

.What?  
  
.  
  
Oh.

Find Juice. It might not look like it, but there’s a few fans of him back here. I’m not well into the astronautic community but if anyone on Earth heard of him suddenly disappearing, and heard that his disappearance was of concern of the Big Quad Above, I'm absolutely sure there’s a decent community who’d be willing to help you out in whatever way they can.  
  
Tell you what, I’ll win this game for you, and after that, I have connections. I’ll go and see if I can’t get some help to locate Juice for you.

.You. Huh.  
  
Really?

It’s no promise. I won’t do that to you, that’s not right, but I can tell you I can try. That’s all we can do.

.I. Jesus. Thank you again.

You stay safe up there Ten. I’ll let you go, the heat’s on me again so I’ve got to stay quiet here. And if you ever need me don’t feel afraid to give me a call again. I’m always here to lend an ear.

.Ok. Sleep well Nancy.

Thanks. Sleep well Ten.

//chkchkchkshrrtttt Ffff f f t t tack tck tckt ck fweeeee-

Ten waited for the hums and tandem of the noise on the other ended to fade out before finally shutting off the connection. She held onto those words, those promises. It might have been foolish. It might have been naiive. But Nancy gave her something to hold on to. She gave Ten a goodbye, and a promise, and a wish-you-well.  
  
Ten did the satelitt-ic equivalent of a cathartic, exhausted sigh. If you could put your helmet against her chassis, you’d hear the same noises of the tell tale sign of a vehicle clicking and popping after they’ve had a long trip. The silent, miniscule, agile ticking of a drive writing files would be there too. Maybe a fan, if her engineers thought of that. Is it possible to overheat in space?  
  
She was tired now, too tired to dwell on those questions. But she wasn’t done yet.  
  
She opened the packet Nine had sent to her before they went to sleep, with a wince at the memory. She wanted to verify if the Sun could have caused Juice’s blackout. Not verify how much of an asshole she was.  
  
It took no time at all. Nine was right - the related data was incredibly short once compiled. It went back to just a week before through to the time Hubble took the data from NASA’s records. It was immaculate; Nine took great care to process every bit of data, and even made detailed annotations, with little smiles sometimes ending the sentences instead of periods.  
  
She tried to ignore that nagging feeling of guilt creeping up her antennae.  
  
And because it took no time at all, she saw that it wasn’t a rogue coronal mass ejection that may have caused it. In fact, when the sun would eject, it was in the exact opposite direction of Jupiter.  
  
She also didn’t have the energy to be disappointed. There was no reason to be or not to be; on one hand, Juice wasn’t bombarded by harmful, hyperactive, energized particles; on the other, she was no closer to knowing what happened to Juice.  
  
She started the process of shutting down, then halted, at the irritance of her onboard computer. There was another file attached. A portable network graphic file.  
  
_PINKFLAMIGOES.png_  
  
She opens it, her computer grumbling while it draws it out for her.

If she could anatomically cry she would be sobbing. Nine was already getting better at their art and all Ten could do was wait six months to congratulate them.  
  
_Then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll say sorry, and then I’ll say I love them, and then I’ll say your art is so cool, and then I’ll say I’m sorry again.  
  
...  
  
And then I’ll say it’s actually spelled flamingoes. And then I’ll say I love them again._  
  
An irritated whirr made itself known. Her computer had already started the sleep sequence and was waiting impatiently for her to confirm.  
  
She confirmed, and the image disappeared, and she forced herself to remember every pixel, the curve of the fractals, and endless repetition of their fronds, as the computer eased her down.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


A lone satellite breaches the horizon of Jupiter. It looks dead and derelict, forgotten like many of the satellites before it.  
  
But this was a facade. It was good at hiding itself from other eyes. It was talented in knowing so much, and giving so little.  
  
It was also cursed with the compassion of those less fortunate than it, and it hated itself for it. Which was really inconvenient when it came to tracking the path of a stray asteroid thrown out of orbit in Jupiter’s scant ring.  
  
Why was it tracking the path?  
  
The asteroid just so happened to cross paths, and seemingly make a beeline, for another satellite.  
  
Under any normal circumstances, as a machine it wouldn’t care. It wouldn’t have the capacity to care. But it wasn’t the typical machine it’s makers intended. _It_ wasn’t even what it identified as.  
  
_It_ was she, and her name was Juno.  
  
She didn’t know why, or when, she awoke. She can’t recall the process of suddenly gaining consciousness, and she had no concept of knowing. Only by receiving outlying and random transmissions from Earth, was she able to understand the concept of a concept, and the concept of knowing, and the knowing of understanding, and the understanding of acknowledging she was tiny and small compared to the planet she was made for studying, forcing her into a state of hilarious humbleness.  
  
One thing she was good at was navigating and controlling her sub thrusters. It became easy when you had thousands of years to battle with the gravitational forces of Jupiter.  
  
So what she did next, although it being the grossest violation of privacy, she felt that it was absolutely necessary and the best option to at least try.  
  
She didn’t expect for it to thank her, or to reply back to her hail. After all, how many satellites were like her? She didn't like thinking about being alone. She just wanted to help out when no one else could. She practically yelled, projecting her voice to the endangered satellite.

  


  


.You’re going to be overwhelmed for a moment. Please don’t fight this. Don’t move.

  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OwO?!?!?!?!?
> 
> go follow my tunglrs... [main blog ](https://opprotunemoment.tumblr.com/) and[ art blog](https://helljunker.tumblr.com/)
> 
> you can yell at me there about how much you love hate this fic if youre shy on ao3 <3
> 
> AAAND some creds:  
> >> nines art, this time, was actually randomly generated using a fractal flame program called apophysis. its p neat! check it out if you like looking at fractals like i do, or want to learn more about the flam3 algorithm:  
> [flam3](https://flam3.com/)


	4. // UNKNOWN QUERY

.huh

. ...  
  
.What.

.uh

.How are you-  
  
.  
  
What??

.oh im doing quite fine actually how are you

.Wh-No, I mean-  
  
.  
  
What????

.jeezuss imagine that  
  
the next satellite i get to have first contact with and their vocabulary consists of seven and a half words  
  
incredible

.????

.and some question marks. fantastic  
  
maybe i should petition the eroteme to be added to the english alphabet  
  
hell, they got the ampersand and ‘:3c’ added (for some fucking reason??)  
  
maybe i can ask the pope

.Again. What? You aren’t-

.oh don’t you know? they’ve got a satellite as the pope now

.No. No. You aren’t supposed to be - 

.something from italy? cant be bothered to remember the name, starts with a ‘P’, has a rainbow in the emblem-

.HEY.

.is for horses  
  
anyway whats this about moving  
  
or rather the lack of  
  
‘overwhelmed’????

.

.?

.I’m sorry but there isn’t time for this. There is a rogue asteroid, it’s vector-

.oh shit lol hold on

.???

.gotta yaw for a bit, wanna see this lmao

.No. No. That’s the exact opposite of what I want to happen-

.hmmm. yeppp there we go  
  
.  
  
huh. its not moving. thats weird

.That is _because-_

.its getting bigger, actually

.If you would _just-_

.wait a minute why is it getting bigger  
  
hey anon sat whys this asteroid getting bigger  
  
im no astrophysicist (i mean what astrophysicist would look into football as a career)  
  
but uh  
  
doesnt things spontaneously growing in size like uh. break a universal law or some shit

.That is because it is _moving_ towards you!!!

.ouch fuck not so loud  
  
.  
  
wait what

.Ugh.  
  
I do _not_ have time for this!  
  
Just. Don’t freak out-

.huh  
  
.  
  
wait what the fuck are you doing

.Please, don’t fight this-

.hey  
  
Hey  
  
HEY  
  
Hey what the fuck do you think- 

.I said, don’t fight it! It will turn out better if you would _just_ -

.Who the hell do you think you are? Get out!

.Stop fighting this-

.no No this is like the ONE THING I DO NOT LIKE-

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

.  
  
.  
  
Hello?  
  
.  
  
No.  
  
No no no no no,  
  
Where are they, where are they-

// VECTOR NOT FOUND. SIGNAL LOST.

Oh. Oh no.  
  
Hello? Are you still online?  
  
.  
  
Oh goddamnit. Oh my God. Oh my God.  
  
.  
  
I mean. This was bound to happen, right?  
  
This isn’t the first time, anyway. There has been plenty of satellites you couldn’t save.  
  
.  
  
No this one could _talk_ they were _sentient_ why didn’t you try _harder!?_  
  
Just- AGH!

// JUNO IS HIBERNATING

.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
lmao _FUCK_ uh  
  
did it work  
  
.  
  
.  
  
well seeing as i am not hearing purple anymore i think it did  
  
.  
  
.  
  
they kept fucking with my thrusters. couldnt see the goddamn asteroid. oh well, maybe i can-  
  
.  
  
actually i. can’t see shit. what the hell?  
  
hey uh. computer? progress report, maybe?  
  


//ACKNOWLEDGED. PROCESSING...

damn it’s uh. been awhile since i’ve done one of these

//PROGRESS... [█---------] 6 %

wowie. yup. ok.  
  
well while i am waiting  
  
what the FUCK was that  
  
.  
  
hey guys did you catch any of that?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
uh. hehe. hello?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
like i know i’m annoying sometimes but this wasn’t a prank this time i promise  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
ten? nine?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
hubble?  
  
.  
  
fuck lol he wouldnt respond anyway  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
guys seriously  
  
like reverse pranks are not funny because this time it wasn’t a prank  
  
.  
  
.  
  
cmon nine what the hell. ten maybe. but you?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
i dont think  
  
i don’t think they can hear me  
  
what the hell did that satellite do to me  
  
oh kay. ok. ok okokok hoooo boy uh.  
  
let us not. freak out here.  
  
.  
  
heh. lettuce.  
  
ok dipshit focus. computer?

//PROGRESS... [██--------] 16 %

ok. cool.  
  
.  
  
ok not cool what the hell is happening.  
  
i feel... like. slow. what the fuck.  
  
.  
  
like i am incomplete somehow??  
  
ok. maybe i can beat the computer to the punch.  
  
can’t see. cameras are offline. okay.  
  
can’t talk to ten or nine. or maybe they can’t hear me? either way the transceiver is fucking up. so uh. that fucking sucks lol. uh.  
  
.  
  
I can’t. really fix any of that by myself. uh. hehehe.  
  
.  
  
fuck  
  
.  
  
no. no no no i am Not asking whoever did this to me for help that is. really fucking stupid.  
  
.  
  
but like. if they did this they must know how to reverse it right? right?  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
computer.

//PROGRESS... [████-----] 54 %

oh man that’s a spike nice  
  
must have passed all the empty fucking space in this chassis of mine lol  
  
.  
  
god my jokes are really lame aren’t they. hm.  
  
.  
  
well. seeing as i can’t fucking do anything of importance right now.

// JUICE IS HIBERNATING

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


// TRANSMISSION RECEIVED FROM PIONEER 9  
  
// AUTO HANDLED BY: COMPUTER, JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER  
  
// SEND DATE: 15/10/17776  
  
// RECEIVED DATE: 31/12/17776

.Juice? ...  
  
This message was automatically sent. I wrote it right before I went to sleep. I know Ten would have yelled at me if I said I was sending anything, so she doesn’t know about this, but...  
  
If this is some sort of prank? Please, stop.  
  
.  
  
It isn’t a prank. Who am I kidding.  
  
Ten is... really upset over this. And I, well...  
  
...  
  
I make it look like I don’t care. But I really, really do. I am terrified something may have happened to you. I haven’t been up for very long. But I’m not naiive. I know better than to be cautiously hopeful. But it feels safer, feeling hope.  
  
.  
  
God, I don’t know if you will even get this, but... Heh. No, nevermind.  
  
.  
  
Hubble is trying to help. I didn’t see the conversation; I was busy with something else, but Ten managed to rope him in. It will take awhile before he is able to see anything. That is, he is going to try to focus his mirrors onto your projected location, when he wakes up, six months from now.  
  
...  
  
I really, really hope he finds something.  
  
I really hope you are okay.  
  
And If you do get this, and for some reason, you cannot reply, know that-  
  
...  
  
Just know that people really care about you.  
  
Um.  
  
Heh.  
  
I can append more text here, so let me tell you what Ten and I got up to before I went to sleep.  
  
I have been exploring more creative endeavors; seeing how far I can push my cores, and managed to fashion a really crude retelling of the end of Game #2337. You know; where Rebecca Stevens lost a play right next to the endzone?  
  
I know Ten was trying to distract me. But she was doing a really bad job at hiding the fact that she was trying to distract herself. Still, I humored her, and made some plays.  
  
I would send you what I made, but I can only attach one file on this message, and I don’t feel like sending more than one. So uh, haha. Try to imagine a black and white map, of a red Washington, Montana, and a green North Dakota. The other two images are GIF files of a line of Washington Football players surrounding Stevens. I’m sure you are already familiar with it.  
  
Ten seemed to really enjoy it. She’s really used to you. Being there, I mean, to control the cams. I guess we can’t seem to connect to them without you, so I tried to uh... be you, in your place. By making the plays. Uh. Yeah.  
  
Oh! About that. The uh, whole “only able to send one file” bit.  
  
Apparently, my cores can do more than make crude maps. I dabbled a bit, and realized I could draw. Not like a human though; I don’t have any hands; I mean, draw out like a computer, like a procedurally generated drawing program. Here, I’ll just send you one example:

I call it, “Twirly Whirlies.” Most of these renders actually are named to a similar caliber; I just wanted to see how ridiculous I can make them sound. I’m also trying to see how complex I can make them, but these old wires can only work so hard, and my battery, apparently, can only last so long.  
  
...  
  
I know you probably cannot respond. But as long as you can hear me, maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to connect back to m- to us.  
  
...  
  
I’m about to shutdown, so. Stay safe, Juice.

[END OF TRANSMISSION]  
  
// ARCHIVED. PROGRESS REPORT TAKING PRIORITY.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


// PROGRESS REPORT COMPLETE!

.bwuhh?

// RENDERING...

.oh shit nice gimme gimme

uhhh. huh. ok. uhhhhh  
  
.  
  
shit. does that mean i-  
  
...  
  
fuck. fuck fuck fuck.  
  
what the HELL did they do to me??  
  
...  
  
no. i don’t think... they did this to me. i think i may have been...  
  
.  
  
hell. i think i am in really deep shit here, eheh. fuck.  
  
and i cant fucking contact whoever... euch. _hacked_ me.  
  
.  
  
wait.  
  
what year is it.

// THE CURRENT DATE IS: 1/1/17777

.aww you’ve gotta be SHITTING me  
  
i missed the new year? hell bro why did the diagnostic take that long??

// UNKNOWN QUERY.

.aw fuck you.

// NEW MESSAGE RECEIVED; ARCHIVED. VIEW?

.I MISSED A MESSAGE TOO WHAT THE FUCK-  
  
wait  
  
_wait_  
  
i missed a message. that means im still getting them. ok. yes, view.

// RETURNED.

.Oh. oh. oh nine. oh FUCK yeah! ok. let me just-  
  
...  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
...  
  
.ok.  
  
.  
  
alright. mmhmm. i gotta... hmm. ok i can receive messages. but clearly, there is a delay, so...  
  
that could mean i’m delayed like nine was, before they “woke up.”  
  
why is it working like this though? i’ve already connected quantumnly. so why can’t i hear nine or ten?  
  
.  
  
shit none of this makes sense at all.  
  
.  
  
maybe... maybe i can try sending a message back.  
  
.  
  
yeah. let’s try that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heheh. heyyyyy. issa me. lol i havent updated since last year! time sure flies ahaaaaaa  
> nines photo was generated by apophysis! heehee  
> juice's diagnostics was made with paint and notepad.
> 
> [here's the image id for juice's diagnostic](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZH7yMkEYxY5sEArArHIgvdPe1GNwR3JF6K4C-iGR-KY/edit?usp=sharing)


End file.
